Polycaprolactone usage in additive manufacturing strategies for tissue engineering applications: A review.

Polycaprolactone (PCL) has been extensively applied on tissue engineering because of its low-melting temperature, good processability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, mechanical resistance, and relatively low cost. The advance of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies in the past decade have boosted the fabrication of customized PCL products, with shorter processing time and absence of material waste. In this context, this review focuses on the use of AM techniques to produce PCL scaffolds for various tissue engineering applications, including bone, muscle, cartilage, skin, and cardiovascular tissue regeneration. The search for optimized geometry, porosity, interconnectivity, controlled degradation rate, and tailored mechanical properties are explored as a tool for enhancing PCL biocompatibility and bioactivity. In addition, rheological and thermal behavior is discussed in terms of filament and scaffold production. Finally, a roadmap for future research is outlined, including the combination of PCL struts with cell-laden hydrogels and 4D printing.

Synergistic effect of adding bioglass and carbon nanotubes on poly (lactic acid) porous membranes for guided bone regeneration.

Polymer membranes have been widely used in guided bone regeneration (GBR), especially when it comes to their use in dentistry. Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) have good mechanical properties such as flexibility, which allows the material to be moldable and also has biocompatibility and biodegradation. Besides that, bioglass (BG) incorporated into the polymer matrix can promote osteoinduction properties and osteoconduction properties to the polymer-ceramic biocomposite. The membranes are also required to exhibit antimicrobial activity to prevent or control the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms, and the addition of carbon nanotubes (CNT) can assist in this property. The porous membranes of PLA with the addition of different contents of BG and CNT were obtained by solvent casting in controlled humidity method, and the synergistic effect of the addition of both fillers were investigated. The membranes showed pores (3-11 µm) on their surface. The addition of 5 wt% BG causes an increase in the surface porosity and bioactivity properties of the PLA. The agar diffusion test showed antimicrobial activity in the membranes with addition of CNT. In vitro results showed that the porous membranes were not cytotoxic and allowed cell activity and differentiation. Thus, BG collaborated to increase biological activity while CNT contributed to microbial activity, creating a synergistic effect on PLA porous membranes, being this effect more evident for PLA/5BG/1.0CNT. These results indicated a promising use of this new biomaterial for the production of porous membranes for GBR.